


leaves from the—

by Oceantail



Series: 1 son, 1 nephew, and 1 niece [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (fuck ozai), Angst, Canonical Child Abuse, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, POV Iroh (Avatar), Post-Agni Kai, Protective Iroh (Avatar), Short One Shot, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26455591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceantail/pseuds/Oceantail
Summary: Iroh tries comforts Zuko the first night away from the Fire Nation. But it's hard.(snippet from an WIP longfic I'm writing. posted because i feel guilty for not updating other fics and also bc im a hoe for kudos.)
Relationships: Iroh & Lu Ten, Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: 1 son, 1 nephew, and 1 niece [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847662
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	leaves from the—

Zuko was shaking with silent sobs, pale skin standing out starkly against the dark red bedsheets. Beside him, Iroh was sitting in a chair, hands still sticky and wet from the burn cream he had applied to Zuko’s face. 

  
Zuko’s failed Agni Kai was less than a week away and his brother had ordered them onto a ship and out of the Fire Nation by the end of Zuko’s third day in the medical ward. 

  
Iroh had been angry, so furiously angry at Ozai, at the world, and even at himself for allowing Zuko into the war room to begin with, but now he just feels cold and tired. A cycle of emotions he’s already familiar with. 

  
It reminds him of Lu Ten’s death. 

  
A whimper of pain brings Iroh back into the present, and he looks down to find Zuko hand blindly reaching out for him, face still tense with pain.   
He closes a hand over his nephews and shuts his eyes, trying not to cry himself. 

  
The words spill out before he can even think them. 

  
_"Leaves from the vine…”_

_  
_ Zuko’s hand twitches. 

  
_“Falling so slow…"_

  
Iroh is trembling, from both past grief and new grief, the song lyrics he hasn’t sang in _years_ filling the tense air in the stifling room. 

_  
_ _“Like fragile…ti-tiny shells.. dr-drifting…”_

_  
_ He can’t get past the fourth line, choking on the sob that had been building up all night. His vision blurry, eyes burning with tears. 

He sits with Zuko for the rest of the night, an almost oppressive silence reigning between them. Iroh doesn’t speak another word, _ca_ _n’t_ speak another word. His jaw feels wired shut and he's frozen in his own memories, old and new. He wishes he could have done more, but he’s just as frozen as he was the day of the Agni Kai, watching horrors unfold. 

When he eventually does go to his own room, Iroh’s usual nightmares of Lu Ten death is now overlaid by the sound of his nephew’s agonized scream as his face goes up in flames like dry kindling.


End file.
